It’s something that, by all counts, should feel familiar: the annual ritual of Google unveiling its latest flagship Android phones.

But this year, something feels decidedly different. Look closely, and it’s obvious: This isn’t the same Google we’ve come to know over these past several years.

If you were watching network television last night, you got the first official whiff of what I’m talking about. During a big night in primetime TV, an enigmatic ad showed up — a spot in which a context-free box slowly transformed from a search bar into the shape of a phone, with “Oct. 4” and the Google logo beside it.

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